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And like the unpretentious room in which they meet -- filled with metal chairs and folding tables on a tile floor scuffed by potlucks past -- the type of singing that has brought them together is homespun.
No instruments. No audience. No formal performance. Just Sacred Harp music, four-part harmony sung from a book that is more than a century old.
"Sacred Harp singing is music sung from the heart without regard for music theory," said Gene Pinion, a Savannah resident who helped revive the age-old American tradition in this area a couple of years ago. "The Sacred Harp" is the name of the 160-year-old hymnal the group uses for their Saturday singalongs; it also refers to the human voice as an instrument.
In Sacred Harp, singers arrange their chairs in a hollow square to represent the four sections or parts into which the a cappella music is divided: treble, alto, tenor and bass. Facing one another eliminates the concept of an audience and helps the group create a haunting, harmonious sound, Pinion said. Members take turns standing in the center of the square to lead the group.
"This music came about when our country was founded, and as such, it's a very democratic form of music where no person is more important than another," Pinion said. "We all make up a whole. It's music that's not constrained by the gentility of what you'd call classical singing or proper singing. Everybody takes turns leading, and every person is just as important as another in here. It's a very uplifting sensation to stand in the middle and hear all four parts."
Sacred Harp in Savannah, Track 1
Sacred Harp in Savannah, Track 2
Unlike the traditional do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do system for singing music, Sacred Harp tunes are written in "shape notes": four notes that appear in four different shapes (a triangle, oval, rectangle and diamond) in the bars of music. Each note corresponds to different pitches. The system was developed to make it easier for people to read music.
Though the group that meets in Savannah usually numbers between 20 or 30 people, more than 20,000 Sacred Harp enthusiasts are spread out across the country according to a recent article in Time magazine. Pinion said the revival is due in part to a documentary called "Awake, My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp" that has received widespread airplay on a number of public TV stations. The 2003 Civil War-era film "Cold Mountain" also included Sacred Harp music.
"These singings have been going on for more than 200 years. It's never really gone away," Pinion said. "But these (films) certainly helped spread a lot of interest in this music."
Beaufort resident Betty Chamlee first heard about Sacred Harp singing through a friend who traveled throughout Georgia to participate in the music marathons typically associated with the style, and who finally convinced her and a group of friends to make a trip to Hoboken, Ga., for an all-day singing. Chamlee fell in love with the music in an instant.
"I was very taken with the unusual blend of voices. It's a very primitive sound," she said. "At first, it felt like it was very hard to learn how to do it, but I found that it took about four visits. You learn a little more each time, and I've been enjoying it ever since."
Because shape-note singing took root in rural churches across the Southern region of the United States, the majority of Sacred Harp songs are religious in nature. But Pinion said the gatherings attract people from all denominations and are open to anyone who just enjoys singing and hearing music in its purest form.
"You can go some places where it feels more religious, but more often than not people come from wherever they come from just for the singing," he said. "I went to one Sacred Harp singing where Christians, Jews and even a few atheists were in the same room singing together. They were all just there for the power of the music."
